Baptism of Fire
by SpiegelKnight01
Summary: Retelling of the second half of fire emblem awakening but in the eyes of a Ylissean soldier
1. Chapter 1

It was a beautiful morning at a small town in Ylisse. Inside the small town lay a recruitment Seargent of the Ylissean army.  
As he sat there a boy who looked too decent with a short sword on his waist walked up to him. Unlike the other people who enlisted today this particular boy had a joyous aura and the Seargent knew this was going to be interesting.

"How may I help you lad?" He asked. "I want to join the army proper." came the reply.

"Oh really now? Alright, I'll need to know your name, age and occupation first before I let you sign." the Seargent said to the boy who looked to eager to join. What he heard next made him either angry or wanted to laugh.

" Hans Willmer, 18, rogue noble sir." After a moment the Seargent finally made a response. " You trying to make me laugh son?"  
he said."No sir I'm serious." Hans said with a determined tone."You do realise that the highest rank an enlisted man can get is Seargent right?" Seargent Luger said. " I know sir."

This was the first time Luger had encountered a noble who was willing to join the army, it was then that he concluded that what reasons the boy had was not his concern." Alright, sign here." he finally said to the noble. Hans signed a piece of parchment that basically said he's now owned by the army.

"An hour from now the carrige carrying new recruits including you will leave. Be here on time or you'll be imprisoned for desertion,  
understand?" "Sir yes sir". As Hans left a smile formed in Luger's lips "Boy I don't know if you signed up at the right or at the wrong time.

On the way to the army camp the carriage was filled with twelve recruits. Hans was able to know two of them. One was a tall guy who was about twenty named James while the other guy was a skinny one about his age named Sigrid.

" I tell you were at war with Valm." said a recruit known as Bostok. " Now that's a shame for the Exalt. First his duaghter was born then next thing you know you're at war with a country on the other side of the world. On my opinion, it sucks to be Exalt.

" At least we have an excellent tactician on our side. I hear no one in this world of ours can best him." said Sigrid with the entire carriage nodding in agreement with him.

While the recruits were talking an arrow hit the driver on the head making him land at the center of their feet.

"Bandits!" shouted James with audible nervousness in his voice. " Grab a sword and fend the bastards off!" ordered Seargent Luger. " Work in pairs and overpower them one at a time!" came his second order.

Hans immediately pulled out his short sword and jumped out the carriage at it's side. His first opponent was a berserker that had an enormous battle axe. As his axe in the air Hans ran at him and with all his might punched the berserker at the neck, a move he was not expecting. As the berserker droped chocking, Hans made quick work by stabbing him at the chest were the heart was and to be sure he pulled it out and repeated the process.

His senses were above his limits due to his adrenaline but he was not given a chance to rest as a myrmidon came charging at him. He parried a wild slash and blocked a counter attack. His enemy moved backwards to get enough space to charge him. The myrmidon charged with a wild battle cry not knowing his mistake.  
Hans sidestepped a vertical slash and jabbed his short sword at his opponent's stomach. He was able to eliminate his enemy but his only weapon was too deep so without hesitation grabbed the sword of his former opponent.

As he stood up two more bandits came at him. He was now in a bad situation, first he was pinned against a tree, second all his allies was trying to deal with their own problem and third the second bandit was using spear. The bandits also knew Hans was in a desperate situation so instead of killing him they stopped dead in their tracks and tried tease him by scaring him.

It could have worked but a sword came out of the chest of the bandit holding the axe. There Hans was happy to see Seargent Luger that an urge to hug him got him but put the feeling away as quickly as it went. As the one holding the spear was to distracted to see his partner being impaled a slash cutted his spear in half. He tried to run away but was triped by the soldier from earlier. Before he could look up Hans finished him cleanly.

A horn was heard and every remaining bandit retreated to the forest. " You fought good, tell me who trained you?" Luger asked. " My father sir." was the reply he recieved.  
" Anybody injured!?" asked the Seargent. " Sir I am." said Sigrid with a visible gash at his left arm. Luckily no one died save for Sigrid who was wounded. They counted eight dead enemy bodies. Hans felt a bit proud of himself knowing three of the kills was from him.

Later did Hans know that the driver was a simple merchant who had five kids, he felt bad knowing this information but also felt happy knowing that the army will send five thousand gold to his family for his services.

As they entered the camp they were greeted by Captain Stoltz. As Stoltz heard Luger's report he sent Sigrid over to the infirmary, to his relief the recruit will heal in two days top. His first order was to send us to a quarter master. The quartermaster gave us what we needed:our armor (although there's not much), a sword, A secondary weapon if we had one but if not we were given a knife, boots , gloves , helmet , jug and a shield. They were then assigned to a file (a file has twelve men). He and Bostok were in the same file. The commander of their file was Seargent Luther, a loving man to both his family and his men but a ruthless fighter in combat."

"As you all know the rumors about us being at war with Valm is true." Captain Stoltz said to all his standing in salute. " They have landed in the ports of Regna Ferox and was able to capture a town that leads to the ports. Since we are the nearest regiment near that town our job is to capture and defend it while the army proper of Ylisse gets there. We will be joined by another regiment but fact is fact, we are outnumbered three to one. The outcome of the war is at our hands so I ask you this. Will you give your best to capture that place and defend it till death!?" "SIR YES SIR" shouted all his men. " Good, rest now for we will need all our energy for tomorrow.

That night Hans could not sleep due to the pressure. As he exhaled heavily a man from his file named Kyle noticed him. " Can't sleep because of tomorrow eh? Thats understandable, here's a tip if you can sleep just think of the most random thing ever." and with that Kyle went back to his sleep. Hans thought about it and after a few minutes he smiled and sleep consumed him. 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The following day had a lighter air than that of yesterday. The town in which they would liberate was a big one that had thousands of souls living in it.  
After the first shipment of Valmese troops entered the majority of the citizens there fled south, most of which became refugees in Ylisse.  
The original number of Hans' regiment was only six hundred men. On the march towards the town they were accompanied by about two hundred mercenaries most coming from Ylisse and another regiment from Regna Ferox. All in all they were one thousand four hundred men against seven thousand Valmese troops occupying the town, a good five to one ratio.

Ofcourse Robin, the tactitian of Ylisse, knew of their dire situation but he knew it was either send the nearest regiment or all of Regna Ferox would be occupied.  
So instead of relying on written tactics from past generals he quickly wrote down tactics of his own. Some of which was sabotage before the battle and the all new wall shield.  
The wall shield was a small tactic that was easy to learn and can be adapted quickly by any army. All the soldiers had to do was carry their shield in chest level while the file of spearmen was behind them in which they would drop the teap of the spear at waist level of the soldiers infront of them, that was the first version of the wall if their enemy was infantry. The second version is specifically designed for cavalry enemies in which it is very much the same as the first but without the spearmen.  
Once the enemy cavalry arrives they will open a gap to the wall letting the enemy horseman in, they will immediately take away the space making movement for the enemy very hard. After that is done the closest one will pull the enemy horseman down and eliminate both the man and horse.

All the plans he created looked promising all that's left was to hope the men was strong enough to hold or defeat the enemy before the Sheperds and the army proper arrives. After a few reviews and a confirmation from Chrom he ordered the fastest pegasus rider to send the battle tactics to the general of the regiment.

They arrived at the outskirts of the town when the sun was setting. During the march Hans was able to know the men in his file his file, the first being Bostok and seargent Luthor,  
Kyle he learned was a simple person who was a son of a fruit vendor, a man named Adrian but that was all he knew since he didn't talk much, Lutz an expert bowman,  
Gerard who loved warfare so much, Baz a former bar owner, Felix a former hunter and James, Soft ,Mark where sons of retired soldiers. When it was finally dark captain Stoltz ordered three of his seargents in a strategy tent.

" The orders we recieved hours ago has told us to sabotage our enemies supplies and whatever is strategic to them." he started. " I have chosen your files to do this mission because I have complete trust in all of you. Seargent Heinz, your job is to locate their food and weapons supplies and burn them. Seargent Jaeger, you job is to find key places that burn easily, the main objective is not to kill them but to keep them awake all night. And seargent Luthor their is a tunnel our scouts have found that leads to a wine cellar at the local noble's house, no doubt the enemy commander is residing their for the night. Your job is to find their battle plans and bring them to me and if possible kill the enemy commander.  
I chose you to do that because what better way to infiltrate a mansion is by someone who lived in one. Understood?" "Sir yes sir." " All of you leave when ready."

Hans was asked what were the parts of a mansion in which he replied by telling about the wine cellar, library, office, bedrooms, dining halls and balconies. After learning this Luthor immediately briefed his men and moved out.

" I bet the commander is a fat rich noble who hasn't even seen combat. I hope he dies pissing himself tonight." said Gerard with audible disgust. "Hey Hans I heard you were a noble who willingly joined the army. Care to tell us why?" asked Baz. " Simple, I just don't want to lead men at the very back of the army on a horse and take all the credit." came the reply.

" Not all nobles are like that. Look at our exalt, dedicated to protecting his people he created a group of elites." said Lutz matter-of-factly. " Yeah? Other than him tell me more like him."  
.answered Gerard who visibly getting angrier. " Quiet!" ordered seargent Luthor. " Were here." he added.

When they arrived at the cellar there was only one guard that was looting any wine he thought was keeping. " I got this." whispered Gerard. Gerard went up to the guard without even trying to be stealthy. " hey" he said and the guard looked at him. Before the guard can even make a reaction a maul landed heavily on his face which sent him to the ground with a load crack. Hans looked horrified and wanted to shout at him but a hand landed on his shoulder. Surprised he saw Adrian looking at him like with a look of apathy. "Don't you'll have to get used to it." he said. Hans looked at everyone, some swinging their heads while others just sighed. At this he knew that what they said about Gerard was true.

" Allright Hans,Soft and Lutz search the bedrooms Gerard,Bostok,Kyle check the library Mark,Baz,Adrian check the offices and James Felix your with me. Meet up here at the cellars. understood?"  
" Sir yes sir." said everyone with pure determination.

Soft was taking the lead with Hans in the middle. He motioned the two at his back and signaled a guard was coming. He readie his dagger and once the guard turned he stabbed the neck and gently placed him on the floor. " Hans scout the left hall , Lutz take the left and I'll check the middle." said Soft. The bedroom Hans entered had an enormous map on the wall. It had marks on it notifying that it was a supply route map. He quickly rolled it up and place it inside his bag. As he was about to leave he heard a male voice saying "beautiful". He stopped dead in his tracks.  
He notice it wasn't directed to him, he studied his surrondings and noticed that the sound came from up the stairs. He went up crouching and saw a man that looked like he had a higher rank. The man was standing infront of a painting about the ruling khan. As Hans readied his sword he attacked the man with a downward slash. His enemy simply moved to his right and countered with a horizontal slash almost decapitating Hans who luckily ducked in time. The enemy kicked Hans in the chest who managed to nick his shoulder. " So it bites" said the enemy coldly.

His enemy came at him smoothly forcing Hans to take steps backwards as he blocked every attack. The sword came to his neck as he took another step back, ha parried a slash coming from the left.  
Hans was quickly loosing his strenght, as he dropped his shield and grabbed his sword with both his hands and readied for a powerful blow. An arrow suddenly went past his head and landed dead center on the enemy's forehead and went down slowly. Hans saw Lutz at the stairs who looked exhausted " Hurry up they know were here." he said in a serious tone. As the two exited the room they encountered Soft pulling his sword from a dead body. There were three dead bodies surrounding Soft, if he was tired then he was good at hiding it.

The three went running towards the cellars as they were now in an open corridor they encountered three soldiers and a mage. The mage fired an electrical towards Soft who was able to block it with his shield. Lutz fired an arrow at the mage killing him. A forward stab came at Hans, he sidesteped it and grabbed the spear pulling the wielder to him in which he stabbed him and kicked the blade off. Soft threw his shield at the face of his opponent and threw his sword at the other killing him instantly. Soft stomped at the neck of the bloodied man on the floor. When they finally got to the cellars they were greeted by seargent Luthor who had a scar on his face. " Hurry up now you're the only ones left!" and with that they exited through the short tunnel entrance.

When they got out of the tunnel the first thing he noticed was smoke, lots of smoke. "Gods" he murmured as he realised that the other files were succesful with their task. As they got back Captain Stoltz was waiting for them. " Well done men. Rest now all of you will need the sleep for tomorrow's coming battle." he said. Thhe three seargents gave their report and Luthor gave Stoltz all the captured intel got. " War" said Hans " I will finally now if I am a real soldier." and with that he went to his bed.


End file.
